Pakistan: Wearing the Coat of Democracy

President Pervez Musharraf did not come to power through a democratic process, he suspended the constitution twice, he imposed emergency rule to remove whosoever that might be an obstacle to his supreme power, judges, political opponents, activists or the likes, yet he still wants to legitimize his position through election.

It is indeed interesting to see how democracy can be bended and distorted whichever ways a dictator likes. Not uncommon is the claim that whatever a dictator wants to do is for the sake of the country, for the stability of the society, for the wellness of the people; which in fact is obvious that it is for the sake of the dictatorship, the stability of his power, the wellness of his own self.

Such cases are not limited to Pakistan alone, there are a number of countries all using the similar claims to legitimize their exploitations with different degrees of damage. Not only the person in power is capable of manipulating the democratic process, he or she can alter the news, hence including the history to be written in his or her favour. Terms like 'democracy', 'anti-terrorism' are all subject to manipulation in these regimes, twisted with the motive for their own interests.

While shouting criticism against Musharraf's decision on emergency rule, US fails to back up its words with concrete sanctions due partly to its own concerns of fighting against Taliban and al-Qaeda with the support of Pakistani troops.

Under current condition, if opposition parties believe the proposed election in coming January will be rigged anyway, an united boycott and refusal to participate in the election can at least be a strong affirmation of their protest and criticism, by not giving in to help paving a way for Gen Musharraf to legitimize his plan for another five years in power.

The whole government is indeed illegitimate since the coup in 1999 in the sense of democracy, yet US based on its own interest keeps funding and playing the ball. Both sides are not genuinely interested in democracy other than their own interests. Since this is the case, it would not be surprised to see the dismiss of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, it would not be surprised to see the declare of emergency rule, it would not be surprised to see the erosion of whole democracy system, including judicial independence, including freedom of assembly and expression, including media freedom and independence, including fair and clean election, including the president is also the army chief, it would not be surprised to see Pakistan is wearing a coat of democracy but indeed is under dictatorship.